Yesterday, Henry Oliver risked it all by predicting the winners of last night’s New Zealand Music Awards. Today he updates that post with the actual results and slightly jaded commentary. Okay, last night actually went pretty well. By which I mean that, yes, it was a good show, I was sitting at a good table with nice people, … Read more
The Spinoff vs Spotify. Narrative vs Data. Heart vs Head. Who can predict more winners of tonight’s New Zealand Music Awards – The Spinoff’s Henry Oliver or Spotify’s team of (probably) Stanford-educated computer-geniuses? A year ago, I proclaimed myself New Zealand music’s Nate Silver and made (not) data-driven predictions about the outcomes of the 2016 … Read more
Need new TV in your life? Hollywood mediums? Stargate voyagers? Floppy-haired Ryan Gosling? Then allow us to present the new offerings to Lightbox in November. Blindspot (S1-2 available now, new eps of S3 arrive every Sunday) It started with a tattoo enthusiast in a duffel bag in Times Sqaure, but the mystery thriller has become … Read more
Tara Ward counts down the top ten moments from ‘The Doldrums’, the ninth episode of Outlander season three. Contains major spoilers, obviously. Anchor me in the middle of your deep blue sea, Outlander, because the dramatic winds of ‘The Doldrums’ filled my emotional spinnaker like never before. I don’t know if it was the fresh ocean air … Read more
Alex Casey reviews Khalid’s show at Auckland’s Spark Arena on Sunday night. Just like a very primitive prototype for an iPod shuffle, I have the capacity for a little over two albums a year. In 2017, my brain is completely full with Lorde’s Melodrama, and Khalid’s American Teen. By some kind of cosmic collision of … Read more
With Kiwi hero Anna Paquin gracing Philip K Dick’s Electric Dreams this week, some of The Spinoff’s greatest minds* attempt to dissect her reality-bending episode. If you haven’t heard of Philip K Dick’s Electric Dreams by now, it’s basically a buzzy anthology series from the dude who dreamed up Blade Runner that burrows deep into your … Read more
If you have Paramore confined to a folder in your memory marked ‘mid-2000s – DO NOT OPEN’, Elle Hunt is here to deliver some startling news – they’re still going, they’re still writing perfect soundtracks to personal crises, and they’re coming to New Zealand. There was a period early this year that I listened to … Read more
Tara Ward counts down the top ten moments from ‘First Wife’, the eighth episode of Outlander season three. Contains major spoilers, obviously. You know you’re in for a treat when Outlander begins with a close-up of a pie. Feast your eyes, my pretties, because that pie was a beautiful piece of symbolism about the endless pleasures bursting … Read more
Henry Oliver reviews Drake’s show at Spark Arena on Friday 3 November 2017. Drake and I have always had an ambivalent (one-way) relationship. When he appeared, seemingly out of nowhere but actually with a few years worth of unremarkable mixtapes, the Canadian actor-turned-rapper was part of a wave of post-808s and Heartbreak rappers making sing-songy, … Read more
In August, Ngāi Tūhoe invited experts and community leaders to come together in Rūātoki to declare war on drug dependence. Don Rowe was in attendance. You know you’re on a marae by the laughter. Contagious, unreserved laughter, brought up from the belly. Laughter irrespective of circumstance. Laughter in the face of historic tragedy. In the … Read more
It’s been estimated to be worth $26 billion, with significant stakes in the forestry and fishing industries. But underneath the story of the Māori economy are also the humming small business stories in Frankie Apothecary and Huia Publishers, Rebecca Stevenson finds. The numbers bandied around are staggering. A 2013 report by BERL for Te Puni … Read more
Tara Ward counts down the top ten moments from ‘Creme de Menthe’, the seventh episode of Outlander season three. Contains major spoilers, obviously. There were bedroom hijinks aplenty in this week’s episode of Outlander, but sadly none of them involved Jamie Fraser’s naked butt cheeks. I thought Jamie’s post-coital wig was the worst crime their bedroom would … Read more
It began as a birthday party on a farm, now Blackwoodstock Festival runs for three days on an idyllic spot on New Caledonia’s west coast. Simon Day spoke to organiser Jean-Marc Desvals about growing the indie rock scene in the Pacific, how to attract big artists to New Caledonia, and the ‘spirit of the cow’. On … Read more
The Brit Award-winning blues singer with a hip-hop heart just announced he’s coming to New Zealand in April. Yo New Zealand! I'll be over in April '18 doing some shows. Tickets on sale this Friday 👍 pic.twitter.com/oRuTdNK2T8 — Rags (@RagNBoneMan) October 29, 2017 What’s a Rag’n’Bone Man? Rag’n’Bone Man in the stage name of Rory … Read more
There’s an increasing belief that you don’t need a degree to get a 21st century career. In the first of a two-part series on the future of tertiary education, AUT vice-chancellor Derek McCormack argues that New Zealand’s universities have an essential role to play in our changing world. I’m constantly asked about the relevance of … Read more
Henry Oliver talks to Campbell Smith, music mogul and the man behind Auckland City Limits, about bringing the festival back after sitting out a year. “Anyone got any drugs?” Campbell Smith, a man who has done nearly every business-y thing it is possible to do in New Zealand music, yells to no-one in particular as … Read more
Craving some spooky TV that isn’t soaked in 80s kitsch? Try the bone-chilling Channel Zero: Candle Cove, writes Aaron Yap. Syfy, look at you! First The Expanse, now Channel Zero? It’s like I might have to start paying attention to your shows or something. Where the former – a superb piece of serious, high-end science fiction … Read more
With season four arriving to Lightbox tomorrow, Sam Brooks previews the return of excellent family dramedy Transparent. I dilly-dallied on watching the third season of Transparent, which I am ashamed about now. Season two ended with one of the strongest images I’ve seen on TV – the image of a baby being born many decades ago, screaming … Read more
She’s perhaps New Zealand’s most prominent actress of this moment, but when she gets a big part, she’s still reluctant to share the news for fears of being cut down. She’s a sudden film star, a theatre legend, and a chill-as-shit lady. Sam Brooks sits down in a park for a few beers with Rachel House. Photography by Joel Thomas. There’s the … Read more
Avid Chainsmokers defender Joseph Moore went to see the Chainsmokers play Auckland’s Spark Arena on Tuesday night and survived the drop to tell us all about it. I paid my own money to see The Chainsmokers. The Spinoff offered me free ones to review it but I had already paid seventy actual New Zealand Dollars … Read more
To craft its new campaign, New Caledonia Tourism sent Australian electronic group Crooked Colours to its islands to record everything the country had to offer and turn it into a track that would combine the group’s summery aesthetic with both the country’s musical heritage and the sounds of their experiences on the islands. We asked … Read more
Drake’s chart-dominating, streaming record-breaking ‘playlist’ More Life is a grab-bag of global influences. To celebrate Drake’s forthcoming Auckland shows (and a limited offer of $59.90 tickets – see details below), here’s David Bell to guide you through it all. This article was first published in March 2017. I’ve always found Drake to be a kind … Read more
Tara Ward counts down the top ten moments from ‘A. Malcolm’, the sixth episode of Outlander season three. Contains major spoilers, obviously. Say your goodbyes, Sassenachs, because this week’s Outlander will strike you down dead. The emotion will slay you, the passion will cut you into a thousand tiny pieces, and you’ll end up a wizened, wrinkled … Read more
Auckland City Limits (or ACL for short) returns on 3 March 2018 after a one-year hiatus. These are our favourite songs from the just-announced lineup. Beck – ‘Loser’ I know wanting Beck to play ‘Loser’ at a show in 2018 is as annoying as hoping Radiohead play ‘Creep’ or going to a Billy Corgan solo … Read more
Tara Ward watches British sitcom Mum, a show for anyone who has found themselves in an inescapable family mess. What’s the story? Mum is a family comedy seen through the eyes of newly widowed Cathy. The show follows Cathy as she negotiates the first year after her husband’s death, beginning in January on the day … Read more
From the genius that gave us Blade Runner, the first two episodes of anthology series Philip K. Dick’s Electric Dreams finally arrived on Lightbox last night. Alex Casey and José Barbosa try to piece together the meaning behind the unique, mind-bending tales. Contains spoilers and trippiness. Alex Casey: Hey José, how are you doing today? … Read more
Shobhana Ranchhodji runs a florist’s shop in one of the most difficult locations in the city: right by the Albert St tunnelling project for the City Rail Link. Simon Wilson went along to meet a retailer who’s determined to keep making her customers happy. There are orchids in a corner, lying in a box, their … Read more
To celebrate the third season of Mr Robot coming exclusively to Lightbox today at 7pm, here are some of the ways you can protect yourself against the vigilante hacking groups coming for your double chin selfies. Today, after little more than a live E-Coin launch and a cryptic loaded tweet from the director to the … Read more
It’s been touted as the new Black Mirror, but there’s a lot more to blockbuster anthology series Philip K Dick’s Electric Dreams. Here’s our crash course ahead of the premiere episodes, arriving exclusively on Lightbox next Wednesday. This content, like all television coverage we do at The Spinoff, is brought to you thanks to the excellent … Read more